新西兰英语 575 New Road Rules

 　　Two road rules changed at 5am today. The first one is that traffic turning right must give way. The second one is at a T intersection¹. Often there is a Give Way, or Stop sign at these intersections² so there is no problem. However, if there is no sign, the traffic waiting to turn right into the continuing road has to give way to all traffic, the same as where there is a sign. You must let the traffic on the continuing road (the top of the T) go first when it is turning into the side street.

　　If this is confusing, look at the diagrams on this website.

　　Our old rule came in more than 30 years ago so if you are a newcomer to New Zealand, you will find the new rule easy. It is really the same as the rest of the world except that we drive on the left-hand side of the road so we give way to traffic on the right.

　　The reason for the old rule was to clear the road of cars turning right. We let these cars go first so that cars behind them could move. However, New Zealand has a large number of accidents at intersections – about 300 every week or 45 a day or one every 30 minutes. Auckland has, on average, 17 a day. It is time for a change.

　　Vocabulary

　　Give Way – let other cars go first

　　top of the T – the letter T has a vertical³ line with a horizontal line at the top. This is the top of the T.

　　confusing – hard to understand; the new rule is confusing, a driver may be confused.

1 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

2 intersections   

n.横断( intersection的名词复数 )；交叉；交叉点；交集

参考例句：

• Traffic lights have been placed at all major intersections. 所有重要的交叉路口都安装了交通信号灯。
• Intersections are of the greatest importance in highway design. 在道路设计中，交叉口占有最重要的地位。 来自辞典例句

3 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。